The wrong woman by J.P. Pomare

Reid prides himself on two key attributes as a detective, his very forgettable face, and his dogged persistence, not giving up until he has all the answers. However, in him, author Pomare has created a fallible detective hero, who makes mistakes, and who does get recognised when he returns to his hometown to investigate an insurance claim, despite his supposedly forgettable face. And despite his years of experience as a private detective and ex-police officer, he gets himself into a fair bit of trouble.

The insurance claim is the result of a car accident; the passenger Oli, a professor, dead, and his wife Eshana, the driver, in a coma in hospital. The sizeable remuneration offered to Reid overcomes his reluctance to return to a place he just wanted to forget, a place holding more than one secret from his past.

The story is told in two voices, the investigation by Reid in the present, and the voice of Eshana recounting past events in her marriage leading up to the fatal crash. For Reid the mystery is complicated by the earlier disappearance of two local girls; only he seems to think there is any connection.

The threads of the story work well together. Pomare knows how to end each chapter with a question or a discovery that keeps the reader engaged, and gradually the two viewpoints combine to to build up a picture of what might have happened. But as with any well written mystery, it is a plot that will keep you guessing, and it is not until the end that the final pieces come together.

This is a winner for readers who enjoy detective stories with interesting characters and an intriguing storyline.

Themes: Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Deception, Murder, Distrust.

Helen Eddy